Ireland fights spammers with new law
Monday, December 22, 2008
Legislation that aims to punish the act of spamming with a hefty fine was signed into law last week in Ireland, which may be the first step in a never-ending conflict between the government and cybercriminals.
Communications minister Eamon Ryan signed the law which can punish firms sending spam emails, text messages or faxes with a fine of up to 250,000 Euros.
Ryan said spam usually increases during this time of year and costs businesses millions of Euros each year, Ireland's Sunday Business Post reports.
Despite the effort, some who have been fighting this battle for years said the new law will do little to curtail the amount of unwanted emails people receive or to deter spammers from sending them in the first place.
"I don't think it would make a huge difference. Nowadays, the problem is overwhelmingly coming from Russia, former Soviet states and the U.S. Irish Law isn't going to make any difference in dealing with offenders in those countries," said Justin Mason, founder of the Irish anti-spam firm Spam Assassin.
Ireland's Data Protection Commissioner reported complaints about unsolicited marketing information jumped by 800 percent between 2005 and last year, according to the article.
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